Authentication / Restoration
1982 Tony Gwynn “Pre-Rookie” Jersey
Pictured is the completed restoration of Tony Gwynn’s very first Padres jersey. I can hear you now: “No it isn’t -- everyone knows that Gwynn wore #19 during his entire 20-year career with San Diego.” But collector Kyle B. knew otherwise…
Seems that when Gwynn was invited to Spring Training in 1982, he was issued jersey #53. Kyle, the collector, did some research into the 1982 Spring training season and confirmed that Gwynn was there, and had been issued #53. Call this his “pre-rookie" jersey, because when Gwynn was called up to the Padres on July 19, 1982, he was issued #19, which he wore for the next twenty seasons.
In fact, we have a photo; here is Tony wearing that #53 jersey in Spring Training 1982, clearly visible on his 1983 Topps rookie card. This style of pullover jersey was new for the Padres in 1980. Research shows that no one was issued #53 from 1980-1982. This style jersey was assumedly worn in spring training for the first time in 1981.
Kyle spotted this jersey on eBay. This is how it looked, as offered. When he saw it, he noticed the tail tag indicated the jersey had been issued originally as #53 -- he had a hunch, and figured if he was wrong, he could easily resell it again. His quick research was promising, so he sent it off to me for confirmation, and then a possible restoration.
The Wilson tagging was correct and it showed evidence of with multiple player name and number changes. The first thing I did was to remove the mis-sized crazy looking “8” on the back, and put the jersey on the light table. On the back, there was evidence of at least two other nameplates. The numbers: a leading “5” and a well-worn, but oddly-shaped “8” of unknown origin that had been sewn haphazardly over the "glue ghost" of an earlier number. Removal of the non-original “8” clearly showed that other number(s) had been sewn in that spot before.
It looked like we had a winner here, and so Kyle asked me to perform an exacting restoration and authentication. I carefully cleaned the glue *only* from the areas that would not be covered by the originally assigned “3” that belonged there. A beginner’s mistake is to get too aggressive cleaning glue marks and stains, because you can end up with an overly clean area of a jersey that sticks out like a sore thumb. Next, we pre-treated it for stains with OxiClean and laundered it, which evened its color and brightened it considerably.
It may seem extreme, but for the most authentically-harmonious appearance, instead of making a new one, I harvested a "3" from another period Padres jersey and stitched it in place exactly over the shadows of the previously removed “8”. The “3” was stitched on using off-color faded brown thread chosen to more closely match the faded thread that attached other original elements to the jersey. (Not to worry -- this other jersey was restored as well, with my identical recreation of its original #3 on back.)
On the outside left tail is a rectangle of knit fabric with “53 80." The tag decodes to player number 53, 1980. The tag is zig zag stitched to the tail, and a careful examination of the tag and its stitching on the light table allow me to conclude that it is original and unaltered.
The nameplate was recreated using fabric harvested from another perfectly matching, equally aged and laundry-faded period warp knit jersey. The player letter spacing was replicated using three data points: 1.) Visual evidence of where the name "Gwynn" aligned with the leading edge of the number 5 from the rookie card; 2.) Light table evidence of the size and shape of the smaller of the two original nameplates that had been sewn there. 3.) Photo evidence of the arch and spacing of Gwynn’s nameplate on another jersey from 1983 or 1984.
We documented our work with a detailed letter that should be acceptable by any auction house or serious investor.
Here is the final result!